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Today I had such a fun photo session! (Actually 3 different sessions in one) I got to photograph two sets of very good friends, and Mothers with their daughters! There is nothing like the bond between a Mother and Daughter and I LOVED seeing that in my shots today!

These two charming young ladies are best friends who live in two different states but are visiting each other for the summer! To have a best friend that you are still close with in a different state is so special!

They wanted to have some memories to have for when their visit is over, so we froze some time today! Enjoy!

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So, when you are around 20 weeks pregnant and you finally get to find out the gender of your baby, what would you be most excited about?

Just knowing! Of course, and also being able to name your baby! Being able to really bond over finally being able to call that baby by their own name is pretty awesome too.

But, after all that… Decorating the nursery of course! I mean there are lots of long nights spent in those rooms, right?! Now a days we have wonderful go to’s such as pinterest, HGTV, model homes (one friend of mine pointed that one out to me!) So, when it comes to decorating your nursery I am sure we all have a TON of ideas that we would like to turn into our realities.

So as soon as I knew my second baby was a girl I started thinking color schemes, crafts, bedding, ect. I love looking at nurseries that other people have done and how each room is so unique to each home. So, I wanted to show off Layla’s nursery and some things that make her room unique.

Her room is 90% complete, I have not found any bedding that I like so far (well stuff I can afford anyways!) And if I can afford it then it is just not what I am looking for. I will probably have to DIY something very soon. 🙂

Here are some pictures of how everything turned out, ENJOY!

Funny story. I was searching forever for floral curtains, that I actually liked, and had NO LUCK! UNTIL..I walked into Target and started looking at their shower curtains! hehe..so, yes she has fabric shower curtains for curtains, and they are perfect!

(I have not finished replacing her white knobs for gold ones yet) One day it will get done. 🙂

This sign is one of my favorite things in her room. I want it to remind her everyday when she is older that she is a child of God and she is a precious daughter who will one day follow the “will” she is determined to walk.

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I took my girls on a little day trip to IKEA today! Woo Hoo! I don’t get to visit there very often, cause it’s a little far to drive. But today we had nothing to do and I had an IKEA itch!

The other day on Pinterest I pinned some cute little topiaries, that I loved. I decided that I could probably make something very similar on my own…

This is what I came up with.. and I am also so PROUD to say that Gianna (my 3-year-old) helped me with the idea! She definitely has a creative mind!)

I picked up 2 small plants, 2 candlesticks (one short, one tall), and 2 of these cute little metal trays (I guess you would call them trays..hehe.)

I took the 2 little trays and glued them on the candlesticks. Originally, I was only going to place the plants on the candlesticks, until Gianna held up the little white trays and said “Look Mommy, this is pretty!” And she was right..it turned out so much cuter on the trays!

And then I placed the plants onto the tops and…voila!! So simple…but sooo Cute!!!

I LOVE the way they look in my kitchen window!! And so Spring-y!

BE STILL.

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I have been waiting over a year to add this wood wall to my dining room! I saw this project on Shanty 2 Chic and once I saw it, I knew I wanted in IN MY HOUSE! I love Shanty 2 Chic, by the way, they have a ton of free plans on their website! The next one on my list is their Farmhouse Table! Anyways, I pretty much followed their instructions on their website. You can click the link here and it will take you to the page. Here is how my experience was.. and as always, have to thank the hubby, I didn’t do everything on my own…. hehe… We went to Lowe’s to grab the lumber, the DIY instructions called for Birch plywood but I wasn’t able to find that in store so we grabbed some pine plywood instead. She also uses a thicker wood, I just stuck with a 1/4 inch piece instead of a 1/2 thickness. I got my wood ripped in store into lengths of 4 1/2 inches each. Took them home and started on my wall! Here is a before picture of my dining room, this is my next room to do. This room is completely bare, and needs everything!! I love a blank slate! Slowly, but surely it will get done! I stared attaching the wood onto our wall with a nail gun. I had my husband cut the lengths of wood from 4 ft. to 6 ft. The wood was 8ft. in length so we had to cut some other lengths to fill in our wall. Our house is older and our wall was a little over 10 ft. Once we got to the light socket my husband cut out the wood to fit around it. I just continued up the wall and staggered the wood. After it was to the height I wanted I used wood filler to fill in the nail holes and started on my staining. I posted below the color I used, I also got it from Lowes. I just put the stain where I wanted it to show though, not on the whole wall. After that dried, I used Vaseline on the corners where I wanted the stain to pop through once it was painted. I smeared a thin layer right over the stain and then painted. When we had the wood ripped at Lowe’s some pieces were a little off and on some rows we had some gaps in between the wood. I actually think that it makes it look more rustic this way so I didn’t mind. I did, however, paint white in between those gaps to help it match the wall. Then I used 3M sandpaper 150 grit to go over the corners and edges and make the stain pop through. After I was done, I added a thick molding to the top. I really love the way it turned out! Thank you Shanty 2 Chic for the DIY!! Be Still.

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I really wanted to be able to get all of my in laws together, mainly all the kiddos, to get a good group picture of everyone! In the past 9 months we have added 2 more kiddos to the mix on my husbands side of the family and I wanted to have an updated picture with all of them in it. It is kind of rare to all be in the same place at the same time. I set a date and time and let everyone know to be there!! I wanted to share a couple photos of our hour with all of you. It was an awesome time to get to see everyone and to capture some moments to freeze in time. Our children grow so fast and I want my children to have moments with all of their family that they can look back on and have in a frame to remember that family is so important and when we have a chance to be together it is special.

ENJOY!

Be Still.

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So the front room of my house has, without me even realizing, turned into my girls play area. When we moved into this house we put this old bookcase into our front room because there was nothing else to take up this space yet. Now, a year later this is what it has turned into. A storage spot for all of our toys! I needed a place to hide them all but this was the only piece of furniture that I had!

I had the bright idea to add some doors onto this piece so that way when the doors were shut you wouldn’t even know it was a play area! My Dad was headed into town for the week to come and visit and I knew it would be a good time to learn. My Dad is very very handy and I knew he would be a great person to teach me how to do something like this (and to get some father/daughter visiting time would be a plus!)

We headed to Lowes to get everything we needed. We got a large piece of wood to make the doors, some hinges, and some paint (I am so over the dark furniture).

First, we cut the wood to the size of door we wanted for the bookcase.

After the wood was cut to the right size we used two hinges per door to attach them. We had to make sure the doors were flush with the sides of the bookcase before attaching them. After the hinges were attached and the doors were put in place, it was time for my favorite part! The painting!

I knew that I wanted it a lot lighter but I did want to make sure that some of the black showed through after I sanded it down. I used black spray paint to get some black color on the doors before painting it all white.

Then I put on the white coat of paint over everything. (except for the inside) I didn’t bother to paint the inside of the cabinet because once all the toys were back in you wouldn’t be able to see it anyways.Then we attached the handles on the front of the cabinet, I found these beauties and Hobby Lobby.

Then came the sanding. I tried to sand it down with my sander that I have but found the paper was too harsh for what I was trying to accomplish, so we decided to just do it by hand.

The black showed through just like I wanted really well on the corners!

And DONE!! Now all of the toys are hidden and no one has to know! And I got a new piece of furniture for around $50 dollars!!

Somebody else was happy with it too!

Be Still.

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Yay, right?! Everybody, no matter what walk of life you are in or who you are, has chores. Well, as a busy Mom I was wanting to be more organized in the chores and wanted to make sure everything got done. I always did my chores around the house but found myself wondering “when was the last time I changed out the bed sheets?” Or, “did I mop the floor last week or the week before?”

Well I was on pinterest one day (go figure) and I came across a chore chart. I copied and pasted the document onto my computer. I loved how each day had a different chore to do, so no matter how busy I found myself, I always remembered when something had been done!

I loved the idea of having a new chore everyday so I didn’t feel overwhelmed during the week trying to get everything done all in one day. I made my own adjustments to the chart I found online and made my own personalized list.

My friend and I were at coffee the other day talking about chores and I thought..hey! I have a chore chart, why don’t I share for anyone else who would like to organize their chores as well. Just click on the link above and rearrange or change whatever you would like. Personalize away!

I hope this helps someone who is looking to get a hold on organization!